These lies didn't smell right

The remaining prisoners stared at their companion's corpse, their faces ashen with fear.

They shoved one another, none daring to step forward.

Finally, the woman who looked the calmest slowly stepped out.

She had long, wavy hair and a voluptuous figure, wore tight leather clothes, and had meticulously applied makeup. She looked less like a prisoner than a star about to take the stage.

But Lin Yan noticed that the hands she hid behind her back were trembling uncontrollably.

She wasn't nearly as composed as she appeared.

"I'll take the fifth match."

Her voice had a peculiar, magnetic quality that made people feel weak in the knees.

She walked into the arena, swept her gaze across the examinees, and finally settled on Gon, who looked the least threatening.

"You, the cute little boy." She gave Gon a seductive smile. "How about we play a game?"

Lin Yan's gaze also settled on the woman.

Through his "Qi Observation," he saw a sticky, pink aura winding around her.

Like melted syrup, that aura reeked of lies, temptation, and deceit. It constantly radiated a mental influence, trying to make others lower their guard and fall into the verbal traps she wove.

She was skilled at toying with people's minds.

Lin Yan said nothing. He wanted to see how Gon's crystal-clear inner nature would react to such filthy scheming.

"A game?" Gon blinked and pointed at himself. "With me?"

"Of course." The female prisoner, Riehlvelt, swayed her hips as she approached Gon. "You're so adorable, I couldn't bear to fight you. Let's play something more civilized."

"What kind of game?" Gon's curiosity was piqued.

"It's simple. We'll bet on 'yes' or 'no.'"

Riehlvelt raised a finger and waved it in front of Gon.

"I'll tell you things about myself, or ask you questions, and you'll decide whether I'm telling the truth or lying."

"Best of three. Guess correctly twice, and you win. If I win twice instead, I win the match. Simple, right?"

Hearing that, Leorio immediately grew anxious below the arena.

"Gon, don't fall for it! You can tell she's bad news just by looking at her!" he shouted. "It's easy to get tricked in these mind games! Just fight her!"

Kurapika frowned as well. "These rules put us at a serious disadvantage. She poses the questions, so she holds all the information, while we can only guess. This isn't a fair contest at all."

Even Killua looked unusually serious. "Gon, don't play with her. The liar has an overwhelming advantage in this kind of game. She can keep telling the truth, then slip in a lie at the crucial moment, and you'll lose."

But Gon didn't listen to his friends' warnings.

He looked at Riehlvelt, his clear eyes holding neither suspicion nor wariness, only pure curiosity.

"Sure." He nodded readily. "I'll play."

"Gon!" Leorio stomped his feet in frustration.

"Then it's settled?" Riehlvelt's smile deepened with the smug satisfaction of a hunter whose prey had fallen into her trap. She had absolute confidence in her professional abilities.

She was a psychologist, and her greatest skill was using words, microexpressions, and carefully constructed scenarios to guide and manipulate people's thoughts. Handling an ignorant child would be effortless.

"Yep!" Gon nodded firmly.

"Excellent." Riehlvelt snapped her fingers in satisfaction. "Then let's begin. Listen carefully to the first question."

She cleared her throat. Suddenly, sadness and vulnerability appeared on her face, and her voice grew choked with emotion.

"I'm... actually not a prisoner. I'm a doctor. I came here as a volunteer, but they locked me up and forced me to take part in this exam. If I lose, they'll kill me."

As she spoke, she secretly watched Gon's reaction.

Sure enough, sympathy appeared on his face.

Got him! Riehlvelt rejoiced inwardly.

Children were easily moved by tragic stories like this. Once he felt sympathy, his emotions would cloud his judgment.

Below the arena, Leorio nearly jumped up in anger. "It's a lie! It has to be! There's no way that's just a coincidence! Gon, don't believe her!"

Kurapika offered his analysis as well. "She's deliberately making herself sound pitiful to exploit your sympathy. The prisoners in the Hunter Exam are all death-row inmates guilty of heinous crimes. None of them could be innocent."

Riehlvelt looked at Gon and asked pitifully, "Do you believe me, little boy? Am I telling... the truth, or a lie?"

Everyone's heart rose into their throat.

Gon looked at her and stayed silent for a few seconds.

Then he raised his head and said with absolute certainty, "It's a lie."

What?!

Riehlvelt's smile froze on her face.

Below the arena, Leorio and the others looked equally stunned.

"Wh-why?" Riehlvelt could hardly believe her ears. "Why do you think it's a lie?"

"Hmm..." Gon thought seriously, then pointed at his nose. "Because when you lied, you smelled different from before."

Smelled?

Riehlvelt stared blankly. What kind of ridiculous reason was that?

"Also..." Gon pointed at his ears. "Your heartbeat got a tiny bit faster. Kite said that when forest animals lie or get ready to attack, their heartbeats change."

A cold sweat began to form on Riehlvelt.

The microexpressions she took such pride in controlling, the emotional trap she had carefully designed, the professional theories she used to manipulate people-all of them were worthless against Gon's almost animalistic instincts?

He wasn't playing along with her logic or psychology. He was judging her directly through the most basic physiological responses!

How... how was she supposed to play against that?

"You... guessed correctly." Riehlvelt took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "You got lucky. Now, the second question."

She decided to change tactics.

"I'm a professional gambler. I was arrested for cheating, and playing cards is what I do best."

As she spoke, she took a deck of cards from her pocket and deftly sent them dancing between her fingers.

This time, she showed no emotion. She wore a professional smile and kept her heartbeat perfectly steady.

She was certain Gon couldn't use those unorthodox tricks to judge her this time.

"So, am I telling the truth or lying?" she asked with a smile.

Gon stared at her and fell silent again.

This time, his silence lasted longer.

Leorio and the others grew anxious once more.

"Well? Can't figure it out?" Riehlvelt asked with a confident smile.

"It's a lie," Gon answered again.

Riehlvelt's smile froze for the second time.

"Why?! Why this time?!" she practically shrieked.

Gon scratched his head and said a little sheepishly, "Because... you aren't as good with cards as Hisoka. When Hisoka plays with them, they feel alive. Your cards are dead."

Hisoka? That clown?

Riehlvelt was going mad. What did any of that have to do with anything?!

She felt as though she wasn't competing against a child, but talking to a monster. All her techniques and experience had become a joke before him.

"You... guessed correctly again." Cold sweat began to seep from Riehlvelt's forehead.

She had lost two rounds in a row. According to the rules, she had already lost.

She looked into Gon's utterly clear eyes. They were like mirrors, reflecting every filthy thought and scheme inside her.

She felt like a clown stripped naked, every last disguise torn away.

Fear began spreading through her heart.

"The last question..." Her voice had begun to tremble.

She stared fixedly at Gon. She couldn't accept that she, a psychologist, had lost to a child. She tried to find some weakness in his face.

"I... I have a son. He's about your age. My greatest wish is to get out of here alive and see him one more time."

As she said this, tears truly began flowing down her face.

This time, it wasn't an act or a technique.

This was the one genuine emotion deep in her heart, as well as her deepest fear. She really did have a son, and she really did want to live.

She laid her weakness completely bare before Gon, betting that this genuine maternal love would shake him.

Below the arena, everyone fell silent.

Leorio opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't get a single word out.

Kurapika fell silent too. In the woman's tears, he saw a trace of... sincerity.

"Gon..."

As Gon watched Riehlvelt's tear-streaked face, his expression grew complicated.

He could smell that it was different this time.

He could hear that her heartbeat was full of sadness.

Was this... the truth?

Seeing Gon hesitate, Riehlvelt felt a flicker of hope ignite in her heart.

"Well, little boy? Tell me, is it the truth or a lie?" A hint of pleading entered her voice.

Gon lowered his head and remained silent for a very, very long time.

Just when everyone thought he would say "the truth," he raised his head, his eyes clear and resolute.

"You really miss him, don't you?"

Riehlvelt froze for a moment.

"But..." Gon's voice was quiet, yet it struck Riehlvelt's heart like a hammer. "You lied."

"You don't want to see him again at all."

Boom!

Riehlvelt's mind went blank.

"Because you don't smell like you're looking forward to it. You only smell afraid."

Gon tilted his head in confusion, trying to find the words. "It's like a badly wounded mother fox in the forest. She'd rather die in a tree hollow where no one can see her, and she'll do anything to avoid her cubs.

"You're afraid of him seeing you the way you are now."

Gon's words were like the sharpest of blades, slicing through her layers of lies and reaching the deepest, darkest fear in her heart.

Yes, she missed her son. She missed him so much she was almost going mad.

But she was even more afraid of him seeing her as a murderer, a death-row inmate. She would rather die here than let her filthy image tarnish the perfect mother in her son's heart.

"Aah!"

Riehlvelt let out a piercing scream. Clutching her head, she crouched on the floor and completely broke down.

All her psychological defenses were shattered by Gon's almost divinely inspired intuition.

"I give up... I give up..." She curled up on the floor like an abandoned child, sobbing uncontrollably.

The fifth match ended in a way no one had expected.

Three to two.

The examinees had reached match point.

As long as Lin Yan won the final match, all of them could pass. If he lost, they would all be eliminated, because with an extra member on their team, a three-to-three tie also counted as a loss.

Everyone's gaze focused on Lin Yan.

Lin Yan let out a soft breath. His expression had barely changed throughout, but inwardly, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.

Gon... this child didn't merely possess intuition, but a terrifying gift that could reach straight to the essence of things.

Just then, the final prisoner slowly emerged from the shadows on the prisoners' side.

The moment he appeared, the temperature throughout the stone chamber seemed to drop several degrees.

He was a man tightly wrapped in a straitjacket, with only his face exposed.

His face was covered in hideous scars and densely packed tattoos. His eyes held not a trace of reason, only pure, chaotic bloodlust and murderous intent.

A nauseating presence, thick with the aura of death, washed over them.

Bzz-

Lin Yan's body suddenly shuddered.

He felt the dantian embryo deep within his dantian, warm and smooth as jade, begin to tremble faintly beyond his control!